Perth-based Victoria Petroleum NL has embarked on a 20-well drilling program in Australia and the USA over the next eight months. This schedule includes 14 domestic wells and six in Texas and Colorado.
VicPet has the largest exploration position in South Australia’s and Queensland’s Cooper Basin and is currently drilling at the Growler-2 Oil Field in the Cooper Basin where it hopes to build on earlier exploration success.
Managing director John Kopcheff believes VicPet is poised for growth and is undervalued when analysed in terms of its strong cash flow from oil production and its current drilling program.
“Our Cooper Basin gross oil production is 250 barrels per day with a planned gross increase to 1000 barrels per day by the end of this year.
“We’re also sharing in gross oil production of 3200 barrels per day in the North Perth Basin as well as 2 million cubic feet per day from the Magarita Gas Exploration and Production Project and the Flour Bluff Gas Field in Texas.”
In South Australia, VicPet is the operator for the PEL 104 Joint Venture which is drilling the Growler-2 appraisal well on the Growler Oil field to test the 16 metre oil column discovered in the Jurassic Birkhead Formation in Growler-1. Growler-2 - now rain interrupted - will be drilled to a depth of 1,785 metres.
Mr Kopcheff said the results of Growler-2 together with Growler-1 and the adjacent Wirraway-1 oil discovery will determine the forward development strategy for the Growler-Wirraway Oil fields. “Following the production results for Growler-1 it appears that good oil producing rates can be achieved from the Birkhead sands in this area. If this is confirmed by results from Growler-2 it could lead to a large development drilling program of the same style as the successful Santos ‘Cooper Oil Project’.”
VicPet’s success at Growler and Wirraway maintains the company’s 100 per cent exploration success rate in PEL 104 and confirms its belief that a new Jurassic “Oil Fairway” and oil production province could be present. “If oil is present it has the potential for an in-place reserve of up to 100+ million barrels within PEL 104 and our adjoining PEL 111 permit,” said Mr Kopcheff.
Participants in Growler-2 and PEL 104 and their respective interests through their wholly owned subsidiaries are Victoria Petroleum N.L. (Operator) 40%, Impress Energy Limited 40%, Roma Petroleum N.L. 20%.
In the USA, VicPet is currently drilling West Florence-1 in Colorado, with drilling also imminent in the Margarita Gas Exploration and Production Project in Texas.
On May 21, VicPet was advised by Operator Mountain Petroleum Corporation that West Florence-1 was at a depth of 1,519 metres.
This well will test the major target, the Muddy J sandstone of the Dakota group, at approximately 1,800 metres. The project area is west of the Florence Oil Field which produced approximately 15 million barrels of oil from fractured shales in the 1940’s.
Mr Kopcheff said West Florence-1 is the first well to be drilled in the West Florence Oil and Gas Project and its associated prospective area in which Australia’s Strike Oil and Comet Ridge are also showing significant interest. This is not surprising as they have a similar large adjacent project.”
The geology of the West Florence Oil and Gas Project is similar to the giant Wattenburg field 160 kilometres to the north.
If oil and gas are present, estimates for West Florence are approximately 100-200 billion cubic feet of recoverable gas in the Muddy J sandstone and 15 million barrels of recoverable oil.
Drilling participants are Mountain Petroleum Corporation (Operator) 40%, Victoria Petroleum 25%, Fall River Resources Limited 15%, Adelaide Energy Limited 15% and North American Oil Gas Energy Pty Ltd 5%.
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